Jury rejects death penalty in murder case

Dana Littlefield

SAN DIEGO — A Superior Court jury rejected the death penalty Thursday for a man convicted of murder in a 2007 North Park shooting, and deadlocked on a second murder case stemming from a home-invasion robbery two years earlier.

After deliberating about two days, the panel recommended that Michael Baraka Mason, 36, be sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection with the killing of Timothy Traaen, 30, of Clairemont.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict in a 2005 double-murder at a house in Valencia Park. They split 8-4 in favor of recommending life without parole.

It is not yet clear whether prosecutors will retry the penalty phase of Mason’s trial, in which they would ask a new jury to consider whether he should be executed for his role in the deaths of Meico McGhee, 30, and Sacha Newbern, 25.

The defendant has already been convicted of murder charges in connection with those shootings.

San Diego Judge David Gill scheduled a status conference for Jan. 14, when prosecutors and a defense attorney are expected to discuss how they plan to proceed.

Mason was found guilty last month of several felony charges and special-circumstance allegations that made him eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors argued that Mason and other gang members targeted a house on Velma Terrace on Nov. 25, 2005, because they believed money was hidden inside. The intruders forced McGhee and Newbern into a bathroom and fatally shot them.

Mason’s DNA was found on a cigarette floating in the toilet.

In the other case, prosecutors said Mason stalked Traaen and his girlfriend as they left a bar near 30th Street and Adams Avenue on July 14, 2007. Mason tried to rob the couple and ended up shooting each of them, prosecutors said.